Lalit Modi loses throne in RCA election

Lalit Modi lost the top job to IAS officer Sanjay Dixit by five votes in the Rajasthan Cricket Association election on Sunday.

Written by Associated Press

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Jaipur:

Lalit Modi's reign as President of the Rajasthan Cricket Association came to an end on Sunday after he lost an acrimonious election to Sanjay Dixit by five votes, marking the take over of a new regime at the faction-ridden cricket body.

Modi, who is also a BCCI vice-president and the brain behind the highly successful Indian Premier League, lost the election 13-18 to Dixit, who is an IAS officer and is known to have the backing of the state government.

In another setback to the Modi camp, Ameen Pathan lost the election for the post of secretary 12-19 to Ashok Kumar Ohri, who is president of Churu District Cricket Association.

Modi's embarrassing exit from the RCA will have no bearing on his position in the BCCI as well as the chairman and commissioner of the IPL.

Modi is also a vice president of the Punjab Cricket Association.

Modi held state government responsible for his defeat.

"I paid the price of being close to Vasundhara Raje (former chief minister of Rajasthan). The state government did whatever it could to defeat me.

"But there will be no affect on IPL matches. They will be held in Jaipur only," Modi said after the results.

The run up to the RCA election was marked by a series of allegation and counter allegations between the two rival groups which fought a fierce battle to gain control of the Association.

The date of the election was fixed by the Supreme Court after Modi challenged a decision to hold election on February 22.

Just ahead of elections, Modi faced allegations of cheating and forgery.

A complaint was filed by the state convener of Nagrik Morcha Pandit Suresh Mishra at Jyoti Nagar police station in Jaipur against Modi for alleged failure to deposit money he publicly promised for the Jaipur blast victims in the Chief Ministers relief fund.

According to the complaint, Modi had reportedly made a public statement that he would donate Rs six crore from the sponsors of IPL for the victims of the Jaipur blasts in May last year.

The complaint followed an allegation of forgery related to a land purchase.

It was alleged that he acquired a piece of land in Nagaur district through unfair means.